Let $\widetilde{G}=(G,U(\mathbb{Q}),\varphi)$ be a quaternion unit gain graph (or $U(\mathbb{Q})$-gain graph), where $G$ is the underlying graph of $\widetilde{G}$, $U(\mathbb{Q})=\{q\in \mathbb{Q}: |q|=1\}$ and $\varphi:\overrightarrow{E}\rightarrow U(\mathbb{Q})$ is the gain function such that $\varphi(e_{ij})=\varphi(e_{ji})^{-1}=\overline{\varphi(e_{ji})}$ for any adjacent vertices $v_{i}$ and $v_{j}$. Let $A(\widetilde{G})$ be the adjacency matrix of $\widetilde{G}$ and let $r(\widetilde{G})$ be the row left rank of $\widetilde{G}$. In this paper, we prove some lower bounds on the row left rank of $U(\mathbb{Q})$-gain graphs in terms of pendant vertices. All corresponding extremal graphs are characterized.